MLB Trade Speculation: Coco Crisp and Rich Harden Fit with the Cleveland Indians

With the coming of the trading season, one thing is for sure: Billy Beane will be active.

Among his more valuable assets are outfielder Coco Crisp and pitcher Rich Harden. With neither signed past 2011, it's a safe bet that Beane will try to get some prospects back for these players before July 31. 

Why not just send them both to Cleveland?

After the injuries to Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore and the underproduction from Fausto Carmona and Mitch Talbot, the Tribe have major needs in the outfield and the rotation. With the team contending for the playoffs, they could use major upgrades in those two positions.

Sure, it'd be nice if the Indians would go out and get Carlos Beltran and Hiroki Kuroda (the best batter and pitcher on the market), but this is Cleveland; we'll probably go the cheap route. 

Harden and Crisp fit the general pattern of the Tribe trade quite well. Harden can never stay healthy, which has driven his price tag down. Crisp, though a very good player, isn't even the most talked about trade chip on his own team (that honor would belong to Josh Willingham).

Yet, it still makes sense for the Indians to go out and acquire these two players.

The case for Rich Harden is easy: When he's healthy, he's an ace. His career stats (56-35 record, 3.66 ERA (121 ERA+), 1.279 WHIP, 9.1 SO/9, 4.1 BB/9, 2.22 SO:BB) suggest that he'd create a great one-two punch with Justin Masterson that could carry the Indians to the playoffs.

The knock on Harden has always been injuries. He's only gone over 128 innings pitched three times in his nine year career and has never topped 200.

He's worth the risk for the Tribe, though, because they only need him for the next two months. He's only pitched 18 innings this year, meaning that there's a good chance he'll make it through the rest of 2011.

Harden currently has a high 5.00 ERA (79 ERA+) in his first three starts, but his 1.111 WHIP, 8.5 SO/9, 2.0 BB/9 and 4.25 SO:BB mean that this ERA is abnormally high.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, Harden is the second best starting pitcher available. For what will certainly be a low price, Harden makes perfect sense for the Indians.

Coco Crisp is a harder sell. The Indians are in desperate need of an outfielder, but most people want one with power. Crisp is not that guy. His stats on the year (.265/.315/.385 slash line, .699 OPS (94 OPS+), 4 HR, 31 RBI) are far from awe-inspiring.

However, he definitely has value to the Indians.

First off, Crisp is a switch-hitter, further alleviating our excessive left-handed hitting problem.

Second, while Crisp isn't a big hitter, he still creates runs. His 39:25 SO:BB, 27 stolen bases and 1.4 oWAR indicate that he is a very productive hitter. Given the fact that Willingham's oWAR is 0.7, it can be argued that Crisp has been twice as useful in getting wins this year.

Crisp would also add much to the Tribe in terms of defense. His dWAR may be down this year (0.1), but this is the same player that had the highest dWAR in the majors in 2007 and was tied for first in 2007. He may not be the best defender in the majors anymore, but he's still got plenty of value there.

The Indians need an outfield bat and a starter, and the Athletics have an outfield bat and a starter to move. It makes almost too much sense. The Indians have expressed interest in Crisp already, so hopefully they take the next step and go after Harden too.

Crisp is owed around $1.92 million for the rest of 2011 and Harden's only owed $500k; that's perfectly affordable and within the Tribe's budget.

Since they're not marquee names, they wouldn't command too much back in a trade (maybe players like Tim Fedroff who project to be decent major leaguers but not much more). The addition of those two could be huge for the Indians though and well worth their price.

The Indians need two things that could be difficult to get in two separate trades. Dealing with the Athletics for Harden and Crisp would be killing two birds with one stone.

The Indians have a very special thing going on this year. Making this trade would allow them to make good on this year's potential without mortgaging a very bright future.